Summary: Experimental/Analytical Evaluation of the Effect of Tip Mass on Atomic
Force Microscope Calibration
Matthew S. Allen,1
Hartono Sumali2
& Elliott B. Locke3
1
Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 535 ERB, 1500 Engineering Drive, Madison, WI 53706,
Corresponding Author: msallen@engr.wisc.edu
2
Principal Member of Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories1
P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM 87185,
hsumali@sandia.gov
3
Undergraduate Student, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Abstract:
Quantitative studies of material properties and interfaces using the atomic force microscope (AFM) have
important applications in engineering, biotechnology and chemistry. Emerging studies require an estimate of the
stiffness of the probe so that the forces exerted on a sample can be determined from the measured
displacements. Numerous methods for determining the spring constant of AFM cantilevers have been proposed,
yet none accounts for the effect of the mass of the probe tip on the calibration procedure. This work